Breakdown of L'ambiente, lo inquiniamo tutti i giorni.
il giorno
the day
tutto
all the / whole
lo
him/it (direct object)
l'ambiente
the environment (m)
inquinare
to pollute
Questions & Answers about L'ambiente, lo inquiniamo tutti i giorni.
Why is there a lo before the verb if we already said l'ambiente?
This is called Left Dislocation. We moved the object (l'ambiente) to the start of the sentence to make it the main topic. When we do this in Italian, we must include a matching pronoun (here, the masculine singular lo) right before the verb to refer back to it. Think of it as saying, 'The environment, we pollute it.'
How do we know to use lo instead of la for l'ambiente?
Could I use ogni giorno instead of tutti i giorni here?
Absolutely! Both mean 'every day' and are interchangeable. Just remember the rule: ogni is followed by a singular noun with no article (ogni giorno), while tutti requires the plural noun with a definite article (tutti i giorni).
In this structure, is l'ambiente the subject of the sentence?
No, the subject is noi (we), which is hidden but shown by the -iamo ending on inquiniamo. The noun at the very beginning (l'ambiente) is actually the direct object receiving the action. Pulling the object to the front is what makes this a dislocated sentence.
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